U.S. patent application number 12/052943 was filed with the patent office on 2009-09-24 for method and system for identifying defects in radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned object.
This patent application is currently assigned to GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY. Invention is credited to Ali Can, Robert August Kaucic, Paulo Ricardo Mendonca, Joseph Manuel Portaz, Zhaohui Sun.
Application Number | 20090238432 12/052943 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41088981 |
Filed Date | 2009-09-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090238432 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Can; Ali ; et al. |
September 24, 2009 |
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING DEFECTS IN RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGE
DATA CORRESPONDING TO A SCANNED OBJECT
Abstract
A method for identifying defects in radiographic image data
corresponding to a scanned object is provided. The method includes
acquiring radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned
object. In one embodiment, the radiographic image data includes an
inspection test image and a reference image corresponding to the
scanned object. The method includes identifying one or more regions
of interest in the reference image and aligning the inspection test
image with the regions of interest identified in the reference
image, to obtain a residual image. The method further includes
identifying one or more defects in the inspection test image based
upon the residual image and one or more defect probability values
computed for one or more pixels in the residual image.
Inventors: |
Can; Ali; (Troy, NY)
; Kaucic; Robert August; (Niskayuna, NY) ;
Mendonca; Paulo Ricardo; (Clifton Park, NY) ; Sun;
Zhaohui; (Niskayuna, NY) ; Portaz; Joseph Manuel;
(Hamilton, OH) |
Correspondence
Address: |
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY;GLOBAL RESEARCH
PATENT DOCKET RM. BLDG. K1-4A59
NISKAYUNA
NY
12309
US
|
Assignee: |
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
Schenectady
NY
|
Family ID: |
41088981 |
Appl. No.: |
12/052943 |
Filed: |
March 21, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
382/132 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06T 2207/30004
20130101; G06T 2207/10116 20130101; G06T 7/001 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
382/132 |
International
Class: |
G06K 9/00 20060101
G06K009/00 |
Claims
1. A method for identifying defects in radiographic image data
corresponding to a scanned object, the method comprising: acquiring
radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned object, wherein
the radiographic image data comprises at least one of an inspection
test image and a reference image corresponding to the scanned
object; identifying one or more regions of interest in the
reference image; aligning the inspection test image with the one or
more regions of interest identified in the reference image, to
obtain a residual image; and identifying one or more defects in the
inspection test image based upon at least one of the residual image
and one or more defect probability values computed for one or more
pixels in the residual image.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanned object comprises one
or more industrial parts.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reference image comprises one
or more defect-free images corresponding to the industrial part,
and wherein the defect-free images of the industrial part are
acquired at a plurality of intermediate steps in a manufacturing
process corresponding to the industrial part.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising averaging the one or
more defect-free images, to obtain a noise-free reference image
corresponding to the industrial part.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more regions of
interest comprise at least one of a boundary region, a drilling
region, a cavity region and a region with high attenuation in the
reference image.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the one
or more regions of interest in the reference image is performed
manually.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of aligning the
inspection test image with the reference image to obtain the
residual image comprises registering the inspection test image with
the reference image.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the image registration is
performed using one or more registration metrics selected from the
group consisting of disjoint information, mutual information, mean
squared error, normalized correlation and gradient difference.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising mapping the one or
more regions of interest identified in the reference image onto the
inspection test image, and performing an image registration of each
of the mapped regions of interest in the inspection test image.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising a normalization step,
wherein the step of normalization comprises generating a normalized
transformed inspection test image obtained by normalizing one or
more pixel intensity values in the inspection test image with
respect to one or more pixel intensity values in the reference
image.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising subtracting the
normalized transformed inspection test image from the reference
image to obtain the residual image.
12. The method of claim 7, further comprising processing the
reference image to define one or more iso-contours on the reference
image, wherein the residual image is further computed based upon
the iso-contours defined in the reference image.
13. The method of claim 7, further comprising processing the
reference image to define one or more linear patches on the
reference image, wherein the residual image is further computed
based upon the linear patches defined in the reference image.
14. The method of claim 7, wherein the residual image represents at
least one of a material loss or a material gain in the reference
image and the registered inspection test image, corresponding to
the scanned object.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the one
or more defects in the inspection test image based upon the one or
more defect probability values further comprises computing one or
more cumulative distribution function (CDF) values for one or more
pixels in the reference image and the residual image.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising computing a
defect-probability type for each pixel in the residual image based
upon the CDF values computed for the one or more pixels in the
reference image.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the defect-probability type
corresponds to at least one of a material loss defect or a material
gain defect in the residual image.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of computing a
defect-probability type for each pixel in the residual image
comprises comparing the CDF values derived for each pixel in the
residual image to the CDF values derived for the pixels in the
reference image.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising identifying one or
more defective pixels in the inspection test image, based upon the
CDF values derived for each pixel in the residual image.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more defective
pixels are identified in the inspection test image based upon a
comparison of the CDF derived for each pixel in the residual image
and at least one of a defect probability threshold, a defect size
and one or more prior domain constraints.
21. The method of claim 20, further comprising identifying one or
more defective regions of interest in the inspection test image
based upon identifying one or more of the defective pixels that
form a region of interest of a particular size in the inspection
test image.
22. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more defects comprise
at least one of casting defects and manufacturing defects
corresponding to the scanned object.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the casting defects and the
manufacturing defects comprise at least one of misdrills, mergers,
overdrills, dwells, scarfs in the scanned object.
24. A radiographic inspection system comprising: an imaging system
configured to acquire radiographic image data corresponding to a
scanned object; and a computer system configured to be in signal
communication with the imaging system, wherein the computer system
comprises: a memory configured to store the radiographic image data
corresponding to the scanned object, wherein the radiographic image
data comprises at least one of an inspection test image and a
reference image corresponding to the scanned object; a processor
configured to process the radiographic image data corresponding to
the scanned object, wherein the processor is further configured to
identify one or more regions of interest in the reference image;
align the inspection test image with the one or more regions of
interest identified in the reference image, to obtain a residual
image; and identify one or more defects in the inspection test
image based upon at least one of the residual image and one or more
defect probability values computed for one or more pixels in the
residual image; and a display device configured to display the one
or more defects in the radiographic image data corresponding to the
scanned object.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The invention relates generally to radiography and more
particularly to a method and system for automatically identifying
defects in radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned
object.
[0002] Radiography is a technique of producing an image of any
opaque object by the penetration of radiation, such as gamma rays,
X-rays, neutrons, or charged particles. When a beam of radiation is
transmitted through any object, the radiation is differentially
absorbed depending upon variations in object thickness, density,
and chemical composition. The energy emergent from the object forms
a radiographic image, which may then be realized on an image
detection medium, such as a radiation sensitive detector. The
detector comprises an array of elements that records the number of
incident photons at each element position, and maps the recording
onto a two-dimensional (2D) image. The 2D image is then fed to a
computer workstation and interpreted by trained personnel.
[0003] Radiography finds wide application in various medical and
industrial applications as a non-destructive technique for
examining the internal structure of an object. Non-destructive
evaluation (NDE) of industrial parts is essential for manufacturing
productivity and quality control. For example, in aerospace and
automotive industries, radiographic images of aluminum castings are
typically inspected by an operator who identifies defects
pertaining to porosities, inclusions, shrinkages, cracks, etc. in
the castings. However, and as will be appreciated by those skilled
in the art, owing to the structural complexity and large production
volumes of these castings, the manual inspection procedure is often
prone to operator fatigue and hence suffers from low inspection
reliability.
[0004] A number of radiographic inspection techniques such as
feature-based classification, artificial neural networks and
adaptive filtering have been developed to perform automatic
radiographic inspections of scanned objects. These techniques are
typically based on using assisted defect recognition (ADR)
techniques to automatically screen images, call out defects and
prioritize the ones needing visual inspection. As will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art, ADR techniques typically
achieve more accurate defect detectability than human operators and
have a much higher efficiency and consistency, thereby enhancing
quality control in a wide variety of applications, such as, for
example, automotive parts and engine components of aircraft, ships
and power generators. Techniques using ADR may typically be used to
perform automatic defect detection on 2D images and/or 3D images,
based on analyzing the geometry (e.g., shape, size), feature (e.g.,
intensity, texture, color) and other local image statistics in the
radiographic image data, to locate abnormalities. For example, ADR
techniques based on image features use a set of features to
identify potential flaws in scanned object parts based on flaw
morphology and gray level statistics. These techniques assign each
pixel in the image into one of several classes based on minimizing
a distance metric, wherein the parameters characterizing the
distance metric are evaluated using a supervised learning scheme.
However, the performance of these techniques is affected by
variations caused by object structure or flaw morphology and these
techniques generally require large training sets with labeled flaws
to perform defect identification.
[0005] It would therefore be desirable to develop an efficient
radiographic inspection technique for automatically detecting
defects in radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned
object. In addition, it would be desirable to develop an efficient
radiographic inspection technique that detects anomalies in
industrial parts, produces accurate defect detectability rates,
increases the screening efficiency and consistency of inspection
systems and efficiently utilizes system operation setup time and
system training time.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
[0006] In one embodiment, a method for identifying defects in
radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned object is
provided. The method includes acquiring radiographic image data
corresponding to a scanned object. In one embodiment, the
radiographic image data includes an inspection test image and a
reference image corresponding to the scanned object. The method
includes identifying one or more regions of interest in the
reference image and aligning the inspection test image with the
regions of interest identified in the reference image, to obtain a
residual image. The method further includes identifying one or more
defects in the inspection test image based upon the residual image
and one or more defect probability values computed for one or more
pixels in the residual image.
[0007] In another embodiment, a radiographic inspection system is
provided. The system includes an imaging system configured to
acquire radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned object.
The system further includes a computer system configured to be in
signal communication with the imaging system. The computer system
includes a memory configured to store the radiographic image data
corresponding to the scanned object. In one embodiment, the
radiographic image data includes an inspection test image and a
reference image corresponding to the scanned object. The computer
system further includes a processor configured to process the
radiographic image data corresponding to the scanned object. In one
embodiment, the processor is configured to identify one or more
regions of interest in the reference image, align the inspection
test image with the regions of interest identified in the reference
image, to obtain a residual image and identify one or more defects
in the inspection test image based upon the residual image and one
or more defect probability values computed for one or more pixels
in the residual image. The computer system further includes a
display device configured to display the defects in the
radiographic image data corresponding to the scanned object.
DRAWINGS
[0008] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the
present invention will become better understood when the following
detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout
the drawings, wherein:
[0009] FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary radiographic
inspection system for processing a radiographic image of a scanned
object;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for
identifying defects in radiographic image data corresponding to a
scanned object, in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention; and
[0011] FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating cumulative density function
(CDF) values plotted for one or more pixels at one or more pixel
locations.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary radiographic
inspection system for processing a radiographic image of a scanned
object. Referring to FIG. 1, the radiographic inspection system 10
includes a computer system 14 adapted to be in signal communication
with an imaging system 12 via a communication bus 30. A real-time
image controller 46 is adapted to be in signal communication with
the computer system 14 via another communication bus 44. The
imaging system 12 is configured to acquire and output radiographic
image data corresponding to a scanned object 18 via an imaging
device 16. The imaging system may include, but is not limited to,
an X-ray system and a CT system. In one embodiment, the imaging
device 16 includes an X-ray source 22, an image detector 24 and an
object manipulator 26. The imaging system 12 also includes an
imaging system controller 28 that receives control commands from
the computer system 14 and sends control signals to the various
components of the imaging device 16. The object manipulator 26 may
be a conveyor belt, a reversible table, or any other suitable
device for manipulating the scanned object 18 into and out of the
X-ray beam 20.
[0013] The computer system 14 includes a memory 32 configured to
store the radiographic image data corresponding to the scanned
object. In one embodiment and as will be described in greater
detail below, the radiographic image data includes an inspection
test image and a reference image corresponding to the scanned
object. Further, the memory 32 may include, but is not limited to,
any type and number of memory chip, magnetic storage disks, optical
storage disks, mass storage devices, or any other storage device
suitable for retaining information. The computer system 14 also
includes one or more processors 34, 36 configured to process the
radiographic image data corresponding to the scanned object. In one
embodiment, and as will be described in greater detail below, the
processor is further configured to identify one or more regions of
interest in the reference image, align the inspection test image
with the regions of interest identified in the reference image, to
obtain a residual image and identify one or more defects in the
inspection test image based upon the residual image and one or more
defect probability values computed for one or more pixels in the
residual image.
[0014] For the illustrated example shown in FIG. 1, the computer
system 14 also includes a detector interface card 42, an input
device 40 and a display device 38. The input device 40 may include,
but is not limited to, a keyboard, a mouse, a pointing device, a
touch sensitive screen device, a tablet, a read/write drive for a
magnetic disk, a read/write drive for an optical disk, a read/write
drive for any other input medium, an input port for a communication
link (electrical or optical), a wireless receiver. The display
device 38 may be a CRT (cathode ray tube) screen or any other
suitable display device for displaying text, graphics and a
graphical user interface, for example. In one embodiment, the
display device is configured to display one or more defects in the
radiographic image corresponding to the scanned object. The input
device 40 and the display device 38 operate in combination to
provide a graphical user interface, which enables a user or
operator to configure and operate the radiographic inspection
system 10. The detector interface card 42 provides low-level
control over the image detector, buffers data read out from the
image detector 24, and optionally reorders image pixels to convert
from read-out order to display order. The real-time image
controller 46 includes a set of image control buttons 50, a set of
image control dials 48, a display 52, and an embedded application
programming interface that maps the functions of the control
buttons and dials 48, 50 to the computer system 14.
[0015] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary steps for
identifying defects in radiographic image data corresponding to a
scanned object, in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention. Non-limiting examples of the scanned object include
industrial parts, such as turbine engine components. Other examples
of the scanned object include automotive parts such as cylinder
heads, pumps, pump housings, piston heads, engine blocks and
pistons. In addition, composite parts such as compressor blades,
turbine shrouds, airplane winglets, etc. can be inspected using
this technique. Examples of the defects include, but are not
limited to, casting and/or manufacturing defects present in a
scanned object. For example, manufacturing defects may include
misdrills, mergers, overdrills, dwells, scarfs and extra materials
present in aircraft engine parts.
[0016] Referring to FIG. 2 now, in step 54, radiographic image data
corresponding to a scanned object is initially acquired, using, for
example, a radiographic inspection system, such as, as described in
FIG. 1. In one embodiment, the radiographic image data includes an
inspection test image and a reference image corresponding to the
scanned object. In a particular embodiment, the reference image
includes one or more defect-free images of the industrial part
acquired at a number of intermediate steps in a manufacturing
process corresponding to the industrial part being scanned. For
example, in one embodiment, the reference image may correspond to
defect-free images of an aircraft engine part obtained before the
cooling holes are drilled, wherein a typical step in the
manufacturing process related to an aircraft engine part includes
drilling cooling holes into the part. In other embodiments,
reference images can be obtained prior to machining. Another
illustrative example of a manufacturing step includes the machining
of a part after casting. The defect-free images may then be
averaged to obtain a noise-free reference image corresponding to
the industrial part, in one embodiment.
[0017] In step 56, one or more regions of interest are identified
in the reference image. In one embodiment, the regions of interest
include, but are not limited to, a boundary region, a drilling
region, a cavity region and a region with high attenuation in the
reference image. In a particular embodiment, the regions of
interest in the reference image are identified manually. The manual
identification of the regions of interest, in accordance with
embodiments of the present invention, enables the detection of
defects in the radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned
object based upon a user's prior knowledge of possible locations
where defects may occur in the part being inspected.
[0018] In another embodiment of the present invention, the acquired
reference image may further be processed to define one or more
iso-contours on the reference image. As will be appreciated by
those skilled in the art, iso-contours refer to interpolated pixel
locations in an image that correspond to a fixed intensity value.
In one embodiment, the iso-contours on the reference image are
estimated using a technique based upon a fast marching squares
algorithm with linear interpolation. As will be appreciated by
those skilled in the art, this technique is based on a
two-dimensional version of the marching cubes algorithm. This is an
effective and efficient technique for the estimation of
iso-contours, since all operations are local and based on a set of
previously determined local contour templates which undergo local
adjustments based on the intensity values on their vicinity. In a
particular embodiment, local iso-contours passing through each
pixel in the reference image, as a center of the local
neighborhood, are computed. Specifically, for each pixel (x,y) on
the reference image, the set of iso-contours in a circular
neighborhood W with an iso-contour value of I(x, y) may be defined
as follows:
C.sub.i(x,y)={.A-inverted.(x',y'):
(x-x').sup.2+(y-y').sup.2<W.sup.2 and I(x',y')=I(x,y)} (1)
[0019] wherein C.sub.i (x, y) denotes the subset of iso-contours
that pass through the center pixel. As will be discussed in greater
detail below, the iso-contours correspond to constant material
thickness on the inspection part along an x-ray projection path. In
one embodiment, iso-contours may be estimated on an un-drilled
defect free reference image and may be used to detect defects in
the radiographic image data corresponding to the scanned object
based upon an estimation of the amount of material loss/gain in the
inspection part. In another embodiment, the acquired reference
image may also be processed to compute one or more local linear
patches on the reference image. Liner patches in the reference
image may be computed, for example by, model-based segmentation, in
which an approximated pre-segmented part is matched against the
reference image; linear patches in the pre-segmented part are
mapped to the reference part through a mapping function. Examples
of possible matching functions include affine or projective
transformations.
[0020] In step 58, the inspection test image is aligned with the
regions of interest identified in the reference image, to obtain a
residual image. In one embodiment, the step 58 of aligning the
inspection test image with the reference image includes a step 60
of registering the inspection test image with the reference image.
In a particular embodiment, the image registration may be performed
using one or more registration metrics known in the art, such as,
for example, disjoint information, mutual information, mean squared
error, normalized correlation and gradient difference. As will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art, image registration
typically includes finding the optimal geometric transform between
two or more images that brings a moving image into spatial
alignment with a fixed image. The geometric transform may be
represented by different models such as, for example, translation,
rotation, scaling, shear, rigid, similarity, affine, perspective
piecewise affine and deformable models.
[0021] In a particular embodiment, the step 58 of aligning the
inspection test image with the reference image to obtain the
residual image further includes a step 62 of mapping the regions of
interest identified in the reference image onto the inspection test
image. Specifically, an image registration of each of the mapped
regions of interest in the inspection test image is performed by
superimposing all the contour information and the region of
interest information onto the inspection test image and fine-tuning
the registration for each of the regions of interest. In step 64, a
residual image is computed. In one embodiment, the residual image
represents a material loss and/or a material gain in the reference
image and the registered test image and may be used to identify and
classify defects in the inspection test image, as will be discussed
in greater detail below. In one embodiment, the step 64 of
computing a residual image includes generating a normalized
transformed inspection test image obtained by normalizing one or
more pixel intensity values in the inspection test image with
respect to one or more pixel intensity values in the reference
image. The normalized transformed inspection test image is then
subtracted from the reference image to obtain the residual image.
Accordingly, in one embodiment, the residual image may be computed
by normalizing the intensity values of the reference image and
fine-tuning the registration of each of the regions of interest in
the reference image and then subtracting the registered inspection
test image from the reference image to compute the residual
image.
[0022] In another embodiment, the residual image may also be
computed using mapped contour information as discussed above, by
performing morphological closing operations formed on the contours
to estimate iso-contour intensity values in the reference image. As
will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, iso-contours on an
image correspond to constant material thickness on an inspection
part along an x-ray projection path. In one embodiment, the
inspection test image is registered and mapped to the reference
coordinate system and all the iso-contours defined in the reference
image are superimposed onto the inspection test image. Accordingly,
constant thickness profiles may be determined, even in the presence
of defects, shot-peens or drills. In a particular embodiment, the
mapped iso-contours may be used to estimate the defect-free,
drill-free material thickness profile and a residual image may be
computed by subtracting the width profile value from the inspection
test image observations. In another embodiment, the residual image
may also be computed by modeling the reference image using local
linear patches. The local patches may be superimposed onto the
mapped inspection image and patch parameters may be computed and
updated by robust fitting techniques and the difference between the
updated patch values and the mapped inspection test image may be
used to compute the residual image.
[0023] In step 66, one or more defects in the inspection test image
are identified based upon the residual image. In one embodiment,
the step 66 of identifying one or more defects in the inspection
test image includes computing one or more defect probability values
for one or more pixels in the residual image. In a particular
embodiment, the step 66 of identifying one or more defects in the
inspection test image further includes computing one or more defect
probability values for one or more pixels in the reference image.
Specifically, in one embodiment, one or more cumulative
distribution function (CDF) values are computed for one or more
pixels in the reference image and the residual image. In a
particular example, the CDF values are computed based upon
computing a probability density function (PDF) for each pixel at a
particular pixel location in the reference image and the residual
image. In a particular embodiment, the PDF for each pixel may be
computed as a function of a defect probability of a pixel at a
particular pixel location and a defect prior term. For example, the
PDF for a pixel may be computed as shown in equation (2) below:
p(y/x).alpha.p(x/y)*p(y) (2)
[0024] wherein p(y/x) represents the PDF computed for each pixel,
p(x/y) is a likelihood term that represents the defect probability
of a pixel at a particular pixel location and p(y) represents the
prior term for a given a set of image features x, and an image
state, y. In one embodiment, and as shown in equation (2), the PDF
p(y/x) computed for each pixel is proportional to the product of
the likelihood term p(x/y) and the prior term p(y). In one
embodiment, the image features may include, for example, image
intensity, texture and/or color and the image state y may include,
for example, whether a pixel (or region) is normal or potentially
abnormal, that is, possibly a defect. More particularly, the image
state y may include, for example, historical data on the
probability of the occurrence of a defect at a given pixel
location, or physical models for the effect of a defect on the
probability distribution of the features x. Further, in one
embodiment, the prior term p(y) is used to detect anomalies in the
industrial part, based upon domain and/or prior knowledge of the
industrial part.
[0025] FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating cumulative density function
(CDF) values plotted for one or more pixels at one or more pixel
locations. In one embodiment, the cumulative density function (CDF)
may be evaluated as shown by equation (3) below:
P ( y / x ) = .intg. - .infin. y p ( t / x ) t ( 7 )
##EQU00001##
[0026] Referring again to step 66 in FIG. 2, a defect-probability
type for each pixel in the residual image is computed based upon
the CDF values computed for the pixels in the reference image. In
one embodiment, the defect-probability type corresponds to at least
one of a material loss defect or a material gain defect in the
residual image. Specifically, the defect-probability type for each
pixel in the residual image is determined by comparing the CDF
values derived for each pixel in the residual image to the CDF
values derived for the pixels in the reference image.
[0027] One or more defective pixels in the inspection test image
are then identified based upon the CDF values derived for each
pixel in the residual image. In one embodiment, the CDF values
derived for each pixel in the residual image are compared to a
defect probability threshold, a defect size and one or more prior
domain constraints, wherein pixels having defect probability
threshold values above the defect probability threshold and pixels
present within a region of interest of a particular size in the
inspection test image, are classified as defective pixels.
Referring again to the graph illustrated in FIG. 3, if the CDF for
a pixel, i.e., P(y/x), is greater than or below the defect
probability threshold, then the pixel is identified as a defective
pixel. As illustrated in the graph shown in FIG. 3, in a particular
example, pixels with a CDF of over 0.68 defined as potential excess
material defects and pixels with a CDF below 0.68 are defined as
potential negative material defects.
[0028] In accordance with another embodiment of the present
invention, a region analysis procedure may further be performed to
alleviate incidental detection due to noisy image data, image
misalignment and image appearance change. For example, in one
embodiment, a region analysis procedure may be performed to
identify the potential defective pixels in the inspection test
image, wherein pixels that are present within regions that are
larger than a particular size are confirmed as defective
pixels.
[0029] In a particular embodiment, a connected component analysis
may be performed to identify the potential defective pixels. As
will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a connected
component analysis includes scanning the pixels of an image and
associating to adjacent pixels that satisfy one or more conditions
a given label associated with the satisfied condition. More
particularly, a connected component analysis includes comparing the
similarity between neighboring pixels, where in different 2D
embodiments neighboring pixels can be 4 or 8 connected and in 3D
embodiments neighboring pixels can be 6 or 27-connected or other
neighborhood structures, and then grouping similar neighboring
pixels.
[0030] Embodiments of the present invention disclose a technique
for identifying defects in radiographic image data corresponding to
a scanned object, by identifying regions of interest in the
radiographic image data based upon an expert's prior knowledge of
defective locations in an inspection part, and further identifying
defects in the radiographic image data based upon computing a
residual image and one or more defect probability values, wherein
the residual image and the defect probability values further enable
the identification of defects caused due to excess material from
the defects caused due to missing material in the radiographic
image data corresponding to the scanned object. The disclosed
technique is efficient, produces accurate defect detectability
rates and efficiently utilizes system operation time and system
training time. Further, the disclosed technique increases screening
efficiency and consistency of inspection systems by filtering out
the defect-free images and prioritizing the images needing visual
inspection, thereby increasing throughput and efficiency.
[0031] In addition, the disclosed technique for detecting defects
may be applied to multiple observations corresponding to multiple
images of the scanned object acquired at one or more view angles.
Furthermore, the disclosed technique can be applied to defect-free
three-dimensional (3D) volumes to evaluate an inspection test
volume for potential defect indications. Further, the disclosed
statistical modeling approach can be combined with a Computer Aided
Design (CAD) model to enable the detection of defects in the
radiographic image data corresponding to the scanned object with
greater accuracy.
[0032] Although only certain features of the invention have been
illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes
will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be
understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such
modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the
invention.
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